Originally Posted by Dhruin
You never did buy the software - just a license to use it. Just read any EULA. I'm not saying I've ever liked that but its always been that way.

For boxed software, this is actually different from country to country (and whether a EULA actually stands the test of a court trial in any given country is a whole different can of worms I would guess ) .
In Germany, for example, courts have repeatedly ruled that you do in fact buy the software and not just a licence to use it. The view of our jurisdiction is pretty simple really. You receive a box and a CD. These are physical objects. This makes the purchase a purchase of a physical "mobile thing" (our law distinguishes between mobilia = movable things and immobilia = immobile things). Since you actually buy a "thing", you acquire full ownership of the "thing". Period. Any wannabe "let's try to restrict the rights of the owner by establishing that he just bought a licence" EULA crap will not get very far in a German court .